ho scale ship

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

My son and I are building a ho scale ship as close as i can make Lego’s blocks to ho scale . My question is how long would 400ft be in ho scale and how do you figure that ? Now I know you are thinking why are we building this out of Lego’s . We thought that it be something different to have on the shelf … Thanks in advance

2

H0 scale is 1:87.1.

Get your prototype distance in inches : 400 ft x 12 inches/feet = 4800"

The 1:87.1 model will be 4800" / 87.1 = 55" long.

Or alternatively: 400 ft / 87.1 = 4.59 feet (or about 4 feet 7").

Hint: N scale is 1:160 - the ship would be 30" (2 1/2 feet) long in N scale

Stein

3

In this hobby, we use a term called “selective compression”. If a 4-1/2 foot long ship (don’t forget the width as well) is too big for your stituation, consider leaving out parts of the ship so that you have the idea of the ship without the full length or width but not have something that looks cartoonish.

4

A close relative of “selective compression” is that very large things intended for HO – a huge structure, or bridge, or ship – is often built to a smaller yet still plausible scale. A common compromise for HO is 1/8 inch = one foot. That is a conversion you can quickly work out in your head. Even so a full length 400+’ ship or boat (I live on the Great Lakes!) would be a major undertaking even in 1/8" scale. A combination of smaller scale AND selective compression may be in order here. Even a 250’ boat model looks very large in HO.

By the way you can purchase an HO scale ruler at any good hobby shop that carries trains. Oddly enough I am not aware that anyone has ever offered a yardstick calibrated in HO, or a tape measure calibrated in HO.

Dave Nelson

5

thanks

6

As I have mentioned in the past, ships are BIG! In the present day, a ship that’s a mere 400 feet BPP (between perpendiculars, aka waterline length) is pretty small. A 1:87 sale post-panamax container ship or maxi-tanker can be modeled using a square stern aluminum canoe as a base.

Unlike model buildings, ships don’t ‘selectively compress’ worth beans unless the person doing the compressing is familiar with the workings of a ship. Just cutting a section out here, here and there will leave something that any working sailor will disown on sight.

The easier, and better, solution is to build to a smaller scale. 1:96 is common, and has many fittings available from ship modeling sources.

I’m curious about building a ship (with the compound curves required by hydrodynamics) with Legos. Kind of like building an aircraft out of concrete blocks.

Chuck (Long-ago Merchant Marine cadet who aced Naval Architecture, modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

7

It is just square but it is just something different to have on the shelf . If I could figure out how to upload a photo of it .Then you can see what it looks like . thanks

8

http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/p/181001/1982085.aspx

User interface at photobucket is a little changed since the instructions was written, but it should still be possible to figure out how to do things.

Stein

9

Here is photos of the Lego ship that is some what ho scale . The photos are not to good but gives a idea what we are building . http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/themes/trc/utility/[![Photobucket(http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n554/caballorr/mvfreestar1002.jpg)](http://s1139.photobucket.com/albums/n554/caballorr/?action=view&current=mvfreestar1002.jpg):550:0]